Cooley Law School Applications Reach New High

Cooley Law School Assistant Dean of Admissions Stephanie Gregg has announced that applications to the Thomas M. Cooley's J.D. program recorded a new high in 2008. Cooley's 5,790 applications were a 4.4 percent increase over 2007 and broke the previous J.D. record set in 2006 at 5,746. Total applications, which include applications to Cooley's graduate law programs, also broke the 2006 record.

Comparison to other schools is possible based on what is called the "processing year," which aligns with the traditional September start of the academic year. Cooley previously announced that it had set a new processing year record for applications from September to August with 5,813 applications, up 6.1 percent over the previous year. It also exceeded the previous processing year record for total applications.

Cooley has now exceeded 5,000 applications for the sixth consecutive year. Including Cooley, only 20 law schools received 5,000 or more applications in the last processing year for which data is available. The University of Michigan is the only other Michigan school that achieved that level, trailing Cooley by 54 applications. The 12 schools that exceeded Cooley in applications were Georgetown, George Washington, American, Columbia, New York University, UC-Berkeley, Fordham, Harvard, George Mason, Boston College, Boston University, and UCLA.

Cooley also recorded record enrollment in the fall of 2008, with 3,678 J.D. students. Cooley's enrollment leads the nation for the sixth consecutive year.

President and Dean Don LeDuc attributed Cooley's ability to draw applications to its unique approach to legal education, which includes the nation's only year-around law school program. "Only a handful of schools offer January admission in addition to September. Cooley not only starts new classes in January, but also offers new classes in May. For example, Cooley will start first-term evening classes at all three of its locations in May, as well as first-term classes for a weekend section at its Auburn Hills campus."

Celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, Cooley Law School is the largest law school in the country. Founded in 1972, it operates J.D. programs across Michigan in downtown Lansing, Auburn Hills and downtown Grand Rapids. Today, Cooley Law School has nearly 13,000 graduates across the nation and worldwide and also offers joint degree and master of laws programs. Cooley offers enrollment three times a year; in January, May and September. Additional information about Cooley can be found at www.cooley.edu.

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An independent, private, non-profit educational institution affiliated with Western Michigan University. The Law School, as an independent institution, is solely responsible for its academic program. Accredited by the American Bar Association and the Higher Learning Commission. The Law School has campuses across Michigan in Lansing, Auburn Hills, Grand Rapids and in Tampa Bay, Fla.